Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 my son bought his first guitar and it plays really nicely after a little setup. its one of those super cheap ibanez combo packs, the ijx30. 200 with a soft case, tiny little amp, tuner that seems to work ok, and some free online lessons (that i havent looked into but im sure they are very basic, like chords and simple guitar controls) after restringing with power slinkys, setting the action and truss rod properly (lowered the action what seemed like a quarter inch.) this little guitar really plays well. i normally play this (59' gibson es175dn) so i figured id just set it up for him and that would be that but i cant put the little guitar down. if anyones kiddos want to test the waters and you dont wanna spend a bundle, i cant think of a low buck entry level guitar that would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EllenGtrGrl Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yep, low cost guitars have come a long way from the junkers that were around, when I started playing 31 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KGrob Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 True story. My first guitar was from an Ibanez "starter" pack. I played the crap out of that guitar. I have five guitars now, though and I still play that Ibanez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 lol, im thinking of getting one myself now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sfarfsky Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 low budget guitars are great imo not all of them but most of them are playable. Most don't sound great but that can be fixed, just like high action and other crap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slave2TheAudio Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yep, low cost guitars have come a long way from the junkers that were around, when I started playing 31 years ago. +1, I am amazed at the quality of these low budget guitars recently. It's especially great for the current economy we are in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 i kinda helped him pick it out, and figured since it was going to be a low end model, that he should pick out one with a fixed bridge/stop bar. (not sure what its called) and to stay away from budget instruments that had vibrato units. this sucker really holds tune. the machines look cheap but when i put the new ernie balls on i really filled the posts so that the point of pressure was low,as near the load bearing center as i could get it. i can pull huge bends and play it really hard and this lil rascal really, really hold tune. i think when he gets home from his girlfriends house ima ask him if they had another one, maybe just the guitar alone since i have a little peavy amp already, and put my pops ole gibson on light duty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ZX-Matt Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 It's probably made by Yamaha, so no "surprise" that you dig it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 I know. I picked up this Artwood for a little over $200. Sounds better than most $500 guitars. Real maple binding and maple dot markers. Nice detail. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 quite possibly (although i have no idea) but i did have an r6 that had great tone lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 I know. I picked up this Artwood for a little over $200. Sounds better than most $500 guitars. EG holy moses, that is one hot looking guitar right there. 2 bills? really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 holy moses, that is one hot looking guitar right there. 2 bills? really? Yeah, it's $250 every day at GC. I used a coupon. $214 + tax. AC30-NT http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez-AC30-ARTWOOD-SERIES-Acoustic-Guitar-104394705-i1171382.gc Note: I'll gladly trade it for the Gibson. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Note: I'll gladly trade it for the Gibson. are you serious? you will trade that brand new guitar for my gibson??? this thing is like 51 years old man!!! yours probably has a warranty and everything right? ok, if you will seriously trade me straight up, guitar for guitar, pm me. i will even pay the shipping both ways if your serious since mine is old with no warranty at all. but i should warn you, the pickups and hardware are over 50 years old so they are not as shiny as they were when new, but you can probably buff it all out and it will look really good. i know it seems like a lot of typing but i really wanted to get your heart going before i said just kiddin, lol. (but seriously, that is really a good looking instrument for 2 bills and change) bryan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yeah, for lower $$$ stuff, Ibanez cranks out pretty nice ones. Esp when they were made in Korea. I'm more of a strat guy for sure, but I have a Korean AX120, a Korean AX125 and a Korean GAX70 which are all basically a few steps from the one in your first post. I LOVE 'em! I have a set of Seth Lovers in one of them, Gibson 57 Classics and Dimarzio Bluesbuckers in the third. Very nice guitars and they go for silly cheap when used. All mine were bought used for $60, $100 and $50 respectively before the pickup upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 wow!!!! really nice cratz2!! so i could change the pickups in this one? the ones in the top 2 look like the ones in my old gibson. would it change the sound? ima hafta start checkin ebay for ax120's, ax125'x and gax70's. again, those are really nice lookin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 My youngest son has a translucent red Ibanez GAX-70 from about 4 years ago. It's been a great guitar for him. Last year, we we swapped out the stock humbucker and replaced them with hotter pups and coil splitters from Guitar Fetish. These Ibanez starter guitars are great values and are good modding platforms, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 PM sent. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yeah, you can swap the pickups for any standard size humbuckers. The top two pics of my post have 'covered' humbuckers if that's the look you are after. It will definitely sound different if you put different pickups in, of course, with an entry level amp, it might not be a radical difference in sound quality. Pickup swaps are pretty easy if you can solder. Just desolder 2 connections per pickup, pull the old pickups out, pull the pickups from the pickup rings, put the new pickups in the old pickup rings, put them back in the guitar and resolder those two connections per pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metalheadUK Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yeah, for lower $$$ stuff, Ibanez cranks out pretty nice ones. Esp when they were made in Korea. I'm more of a strat guy for sure, but I have a Korean AX120, a Korean AX125 and a Korean GAX70 which are all basically a few steps from the one in your first post. I LOVE 'em! I have a set of Seth Lovers in one of them, Gibson 57 Classics and Dimarzio Bluesbuckers in the third. Very nice guitars and they go for silly cheap when used. All mine were bought used for $60, $100 and $50 respectively before the pickup upgrades. I've got an old AX125 that I picked up about 8 years ago....it's a great guitar! All sorts of people who have played it are amazed by how good it is. They dont seem that common either. Heres mine...stock except for a Kent Armstrong in the Bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 PM sent. EG lol, eg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lowbrow Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 Love my Gax 70. New pups, bridge and a Bigsby and she's all set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyinbryan Posted March 8, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 that is a fantastic looking setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soapbladder Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 That's beautiful. With some fralin p-92s, I might have found a spring project... SB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blingdogg Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 My first guitar about 6 years ago was a starter Ibanez GAX-75, much like the ones posted above. It's a really nice guitar, with a good, fast, easy neck and a nice sound after I switched the pickups out for some GFS Retrotrons. I still like to play it, it's held up well after this time and is a solid guitar for anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted March 8, 2010 Members Share Posted March 8, 2010 I own three Ibanez guitars... all of them cheap. 1984 Roadstar RS430 (japan)2004 Jet King 1 (indonesia)2006 SZ520 (korea) All are solid and all were under $375. They make good, low cost stuff for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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